we have waited a long time for a captain of kumbles calibre-the last time it could have happened was when ravi shastri-the natural choice for captaincy was ignored and azzar was given the chair.
there is a saying in cricketing circles-that a bowler never makes a good captain-he either underbowls or overbowls himself-but watching kumble-what struck me was his fine judjement of bowling capabilities-a judjement as regards-ganguly with his movement given the new ball-harbhajan picking up key wickets.
as regards indian cricket supporters we have a habit of going overboard when successes happen and
then pouncing on sportsmen when they fail-but for once the indian selectors have picked the two most mature cricketers in the indian team-kumble as the immeadiate captain-and dhoni as the long term captain.
kumble brings a lot of positives to the indian team-as the undisputed leader of the bowling attack-his place is secure.as the most aggressive bowler in the pack-he brings amix of maturity and aggression to the team.
looking forward to the next tour-to beat australia-you need someone like kumble-i read a blog somewhere that kumble has been a failure in australia-kumble got 24 wickets in the last 3 tests he played in australia-we need a tough character-and we have seen the sort of support given by people like sachin, dravid, laxman and ganguly.
we are looking at the twilight days of some of the greatest cricketers to have played this game-sachin ,sourav, dravid, laxman, kumble-these are not only indian greats-they can walk with pride with any set of cricketers from earth or mars.
we talk of it , bt, etc, but it is cricket where we are going to be the next world champions-thanks to very proud and determined cricketers like kumble
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Hi gisurgeon,
You make some very good points there re: Kumble, captaincy and the senior Indian players. What struck me while reading yr piece was this popular perception in Ganguly's and Dravid's terms - 1) Dada preferred Bhajji 2) Dravid had more belief in Kumble. These might be perceptions, but it's obvious that the Dravid-Kumble combine has always been strong - both play the same state, share a history, wavelength, and are almost scholarlike in their approach to cricket. Flip side, Dada and Bhajji are more flamboyant, in the face, and almost impetuous. Natural then they attract each other.
Isn't it incredible how Kumble effectively bowled Ganguly for more overs in a test than any captain before - including Ganguly himself. He went by his gut - at least in the first test Kumble was like an able General, and the team his troops. Ready to dig in, ready to attack - to a plan.
cheers, naked cricket
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Dear gisurgeon,
Isn't it too early to praise someone's captaincy? There is habi in Indian subcontinent to raise in praise of individual/team on one single achievement and suddenly take stones in Hand next day on their single failure!!
Let's wait for few months before we start evaluating Kumble as leader.
Thanks
Ramesh
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